BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- So you think you want to be a national con­tender? Well, there are a few things you had bet­ter do well -- actually, better than just about anyone else.

You'd better run the ball, stop the run and force a lot of turn­overs. The SEC has won six straight national titles by doing just that. And if the league wants to make it seven straight, there are some worthy candidates.

We took the six remaining un­beaten and Top 25 teams in the SEC -- No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 LSU, No. 5 Georgia, No. 7 South Caro­lina, No. 14 Florida and No. 23 Mississippi State -- and com­pared them to the national champs of the past at what they did best.

We looked at the statistical fac­tors the national champs had in common and dismissed what they didn't. For example, by crunching the numbers we learned that the passing game isn't that big a factor on either side of the ball.

Of the six consecutive national champs, only Florida in 2006 had a top-30 passing game. In terms of passing defenses, only 2007 LSU and 2011 Alabama ranked in the top 10.

But other stats represented a common trend for success. So we took the benchmarks -- a team's average yards or points for or against and its national ranking in that stat category that year -- and compared the contenders this fall with the BCS kings of the past.

The numbers thus far this sea­son have come against a mix of conference and nonconference foes, some less than stellar. So if a team doesn't meet a benchmark now, the odds of doing so later aren't good.

Rushing offense

> The benchmarks -- 219.9 yards a game, top-15 running game.

> That was then -- No one did it better than Auburn, which av­eraged 284.8 yards a game and ranked fifth in that category with Cam Newton and Mike Dyer tak­ing turns. Only 2006 Florida didn't pass muster, ranking 38th in that category nationally, but that was at the start of the cycle when smash-mouth football came back into vogue.

> This is now -- This season, LSU meets both benchmarks (269.3 yards, 13th-ranked run of­fense) while Georgia and Florida are grinding out the yards. What about Alabama? The Tide's not getting it done on the ground yet.

Total offense

> The benchmarks -- 435 yards a game and an average na­tional rank of 23rd.

> That was then -- Auburn and 2008 Florida had the most prolific offenses during the run, but it's the consistency that sticks out. All the national winners were ground-based units that churned out 400 yards or more per game.

Only 2009 Alabama (ranked 42nd) and 2011 Bama (31st) weren't top 30.

> This is now -- Georgia (518 yards/ranked 20th) meets both benchmarks and LSU meets the yardage standard, but all five of this year's contending teams are in the ballpark.

Scoring offense

> The benchmarks -- An aver­age of 36.7 points a game and a top-15 scoring offense.

> That was then -- The 2008 Gators and 2010 Auburn led the way with top-seven scoring at­tacks. Only 2006 Florida failed to average at least 32 points a game.

> This is now -- LSU (48.3 points/ranked ninth), Georgia (47.3/10th) and Alabama (42.7/ 17th) meet both benchmarks while South Carolina (38.0) and Mississippi State are on pace.

Florida doesn't have enough of­fensive juice.

Rushing defense

> The benchmarks -- The na­tional champs allowed an aver­age of 90.6 yards a game and ranked among the nation's seven best.

> That was then -- This may be the best benchmark indicator of all. All six champs were top-15 units against the run. In fact, 2006 Florida (allowing just 72.5 yards a game), 2009 Alabama (78.1) and 2011 Alabama (72.1) were top-five units.

> This is now -- LSU (47.0 yards/ranked fourth), South Car­olina (53.0/sixth) and Alabama (57.7/eighth) are among the na­tion's premier defenses. Georgia, Florida and Mississippi State aren't on the same planet right now.

Scoring defense

> The benchmarks -- The six national champs allowed an aver­age of 15.0 points and ranked, on average, 14th in the nation in this category.

> That was then -- Four of the title-team defenses were world class, including 2006 Florida (13.5 points/ranked sixth nationally), 2008 Florida (12.9 points/fourth), 2009 Alabama (11.7/second) and 2011 Alabama (8.1/first). Only Auburn (24.1/53rd) wasn't an elite unit, but the Tigers' defense turned it on over its final 10 quar­ters of the 2010 season.

> This is now -- Four schools already reach the benchmarks: Alabama (4.7 points/ranked third nationally), South Carolina (9.7/ seventh) and LSU (10.3/11th).

Mississippi State meets the points-per-game benchmark of 14.3.

Turnover margin

> The benchmarks -- A mar­gin of plus-11 over the course of the season, or almost plus-one a game, and an average national ranking of 17th in this category.

> That was then -- From 2007 to 2009, the SEC and national champs had margins of at least plus-19 and ranked in the top four.

> This is now -- Alabama and Mississippi State lead the nation with a margin of plus- 11 after just three games. LSU and Georgia are on pace with plus­one a game.

So who's best?

Which teams meet the bench­marks of national champions best? Here's the scorecard at this point of the season: